Letter from the President

It is a pleasure to write this column as the President of the IUCr for the coming triennium. The new Executive Committee will continue many of the initiatives started in the preceding years, and address issues which have become pressing because of rapid developments in computer and communication technology. We are living in a contracting world. New means of interaction make the Union a different society from what it was only a few years ago!

The XVI Congress was an unqualified success. The outstanding facilities offered by our Chinese hosts and the excellent scientific program both contributed. With more than 900 active and 200 accompanying registrants from outside China, and 250 from inside the country it was the largest conference in China in 1993, and the third largest ever in terms of foreign participation! Several new countries were admitted to the Union by vote of the General Assembly, while others expressed their intention of joining at the time of the next Congress. We welcome the new adhering bodies of Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Venezuela. The close collaboration between scientists from diverse countries is the basis of our strength.

Looking forward to the coming triennium the development of the Union is continuing with a number of new initiatives. The Journal of Synchrotron Radiation will be under the Editorship of J. Helliwell, S. Hasnain from the UK, and H. Kamitsubo from Japan, assisted by a slate of prominent coeditors, covering a broad range in the Synchrotron Radiation field. It is to be launched with a December 1994 issue. The IUCr Newsletter with its widespread distribution is giving much better exposure to the Union's activities than has been possible in the past.

A large fraction of the work being done at Synchrotron sources is crystallographic. With the rapid expansion of the number of operational facilities, Crystallography is getting an enormous boost. It is up to us to exploit the new possibilities, and most importantly, to demonstrate the tremendous relevance of such experiments to other branches of Science. At the same time that Crystallography has flourished, funding cutbacks and the needs of other rapidly developing fields appear to have led in many countries to a reduction of the number of crystallographers employed in Academic institutions. We must give widespread publicity to the great impact Crystallography is having in fields ranging from Macromolecular Science to Surface Structure and Catalysis. The IUCr Newsletter and other publications will play a role in this respect.

One of the most successful programs has been the sponsorship and support of Conferences through the Calendar Subcommittee of the Executive Committee. As demand for financial support is increasing rapidly, the Executive Committee at its Beijing meeting adopted a set of guidelines to better define conferences that qualifY for funding. They are those organized by the Union, or Commissions of the Union, and those in which crystallographers play an important part, either in the organization or as active participants in the program. As before, only international meetings will be supported. The Conference Organizers should apply to the Calendar Subcommittee for funds for travel of Young Scientists and/or for organizational purposes. They may obtain application forms from the Chairperson of the Calendar Subcommittee, Prof. P. Codding, Dept. of Chem., U. of Calgary, 2400 University Dr., NW Calgary AB, T2N 1N4 Canada. Please note that young scientists in need of support must write directly to the Conference Chairman to be considered for an IUCr Travel Award, and not the Calendar Subcommittee.w

A second program, administered by the Teaching Commission, is the Visiting Professor program, under which the Union supports the travel for a teacher to give a series of lectures at a University or Educational Meeting. All local expenses are to be covered by the host country. The program has been quite successful, a description of the experiences of C. Kennard as Visiting Professor in Hanoi can be found in the second issue of the IUCr Newsletter.

We are looking forward to the coming triennium as a period in which our Union will continue to flourish!